It may feel like a lot longer, but a year ago, Odúbel Herrera was on the Philadelphia Phillies roster.
But once president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski acquired center fielder Brandon Marsh from the Los Angeles Angels prior to the trade deadline, Herrera was designated for assignment and ultimately released. He hasn’t played in affiliated baseball since.
With that said, the 31-year-old does have a new home, as he signed with the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association of Professional Baseball on June 21. The AAPB isn’t a minor league, but it does have a partnership with Major League Baseball.
Herrera is by far the most accomplished player on the team, which also includes former Major Leaguers Chris Herrmann, Brian O’Grady and Aaron Whitefield. Kansas City currently leads the AAPB’s West Division at 31-17, which puts them 2 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks. In Herrera’s first 12 games with the team, he’s hit .313 with three RBIs in 48 at-bats.
It has to be quite the humbling experience for Herrera, who was an All-Star for the Phillies in 2016 and once seemed destined to be a core piece for the next great team that the franchise produced.
However, on-field inconsistencies and a May 2019 domestic violence arrest were self-inflicted wounds that kept Herrera from ever fulfilling his potential. While his girlfriend ultimately elected not to press charges, Herrera was suspended for 85 games in the 2019 season, a period for which he wasn’t paid. The Phillies, despite having a need at the position, didn’t consider Herrera during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Herrera would ultimately be given a second chance by the Phillies, slashing .254/.301/.405 with 18 home runs, 72 RBIs and a .706 OPS in 186 games between 2021 and 2022. While Herrera continued to have mental blunders, it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t be at least playing at the Triple-A level if he had a better reputation around the league. Instead, he’s left to play in an independent league, and faces perhaps an insurmountable uphill battle to ever get back to playing for an MLB team.
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